"1957 reduced the number of condemned criminals by 75%, from an average of 15 a year in the early 1950s to about four a year in the late 1950s. As Chief Executioner, on 11 July 1958 Allen hanged American-born Scottish serial killer Peter Manuel at Barlinnie prison, Glasgow. He also hanged Guenther Podola on 5 November 1959, a German-born petty thief, and the last man to be hanged in the UK for killing a police officer. His most controversial case was that of James Hanratty, hanged on 4 April 1962 at Bedford Prison for the ""A6 murder"" case. Efforts to"
"upon Hanratty’s 'gross social and emotional immaturity'. After a failed escape attempt, Hanratty was transferred to Camp Hill Prison, Isle of Wight, and thence, following another bid for freedom, to Strangeways Prison, Manchester. Transferred briefly to Durham Prison, he was returned to Strangeways where, having served his full term, he was released in March 1961, aged 24, five months before the A6 murder. At about 6:45am on 23 August 1961, the body of Michael John Gregsten (b. 28 December 1924) was discovered in a lay-by on the A6 road at Deadman's Hill, near the Bedfordshire village of Clophill, by John"
"ask the judge for the definition of 'reasonable doubt'. After nine hours, they returned to the court and entered a unanimous verdict of guilty. Hanratty's appeal was dismissed on 13 March, and despite a petition signed by more than 90,000 people, Hanratty was hanged by executioner Harry Allen at Bedford on 4 April 1962, still protesting his innocence. Hanratty was initially buried in the grounds of Bedford Gaol, but, on 22 February 1966, his remains were exhumed and re-interred in a grave at Watford shared with his aunt. The 'A6 Defence Committee' was a self-appointed group of campaigners and activists,"
"no credible alibi for the date in question, but repeated each time that he had nothing to do with the A6 murder. On 11 October, Hanratty was arrested by police in Blackpool, at the Stevonia cafe. On 14 October, Valerie Storie identified Hanratty in an identity parade, after each of the men in the parade had repeated the phrase used by the murderer: ""Be quiet, will you? I'm thinking."" Hanratty was then charged with the murder of Michael Gregsten. Hanratty's murder trial started at Bedfordshire Assizes on 22 January 1962; it was originally to have been heard at the Old"
"for a guilty verdict and death sentence. The English Court of Criminal Appeals, consisting of the Lord Chief Justice Lord Parker of Waddington, Mr. Justice Gorman and Mr. Justice Salmon, dismissed the appeal on 29 October. Grey was executed by hanging on the gallows at Winson Green Prison on Tuesday, 20 November 1962 by Harry Allen and his assistant. He was the last person executed there, and in the city. In attendance were prison governor John Richards and prison doctor Dr. P.M. Costa, plus eight uniformed officers and plain-clothed detectives. Murder of Thomas Bates The murder of Thomas Bates occurred"
"on October 15, 1962. The hearing lasted three days and it took the jury just 20 minutes to find him guilty. This verdict automatically resulted in him being sentenced to death on 17 October 1962, because under the terms of the Homicide Act 1957 killing in the course or furtherance of theft or robbery was a capital offence. Smith was subsequently hanged on the gallows at Strangeways prison (Manchester), on the morning of Wednesday, 28 November 1962. The executioners were Harry Allen and his assistant. A few hours later, on the same day that he was executed, Smith's body was"
"that of twenty-year-old murderer Michael Johnson, who was hanged by William Calcraft on 29 March 1869. Twenty-nine hangings took place over the next twenty years and 71 took place in the 20th century, bringing the total number to 100. During the second half of the century, the number of executions decreased, with no hangings between 1954 and 28 November 1962, when James Smith was executed. John Robson Walby (alias Gwynne Owen Evans), one of the last two people to be hanged in England, was executed here on 13 August 1964. Out of the 100 hangings, four were double hangings, while"
"executions were carried out in the United Kingdom for any of these offences after the abolition of the death penalty for murder. Nevertheless, there remained a working gallows at HMP Wandsworth, London, until 1994, which was tested every six months until 1992. This gallows is now housed in the Galleries of Justice in Nottingham. England and in the United Kingdom: on 13 August 1964, Peter Anthony Allen, at Walton Prison in Liverpool, and Gwynne Owen Evans, at Strangeways Prison in Manchester, were executed for the murder of John Alan West on 7 April that year. Scotland: Henry John Burnett, 21,"
"Herbert Rowse Armstrong Herbert Rowse Armstrong TD MA (13 May 1869 – 31 May 1922) was an English solicitor and convicted murderer, the only solicitor in the history of the United Kingdom to have been hanged for murder. He was living in Cusop Dingle, Herefordshire, England and practising in Hay-on-Wye, on the border of England and Wales, from 1906 until his arrest on 31 December 1921 for the attempted murder of a professional rival by arsenic poisoning. He was later also charged with and tried for the murder of his wife. Armstrong was born at 23 Princes Square, Plymouth, Devon,"
"Zsiga Pankotia Zsiga Pankotia (or Pankotai) was a 31-year-old Hungarian-born murderer who was hanged on Thursday, 29 June 1961 at Armley Gaol, Leeds, West Yorkshire, (now HM Prison Leeds). He was hanged by Harry Allen for the murder of Jack Eli Myers in a house burglary in the city's affluent Roundhay district. Under the Homicide Act 1957, murder during the course or furtherance of theft was considered capital murder and the sentence in the event of conviction was one of death. He was the last man to be hanged at Armley Gaol. Pankotia was tried, convicted and sentenced at Leeds"
"and return home to live with their parents. Kerryn Henstridge, 22, Anne Smerdon, 22, and Peter Dempsey, 27, the brother-in-law of one of the women, were forced into separate rooms and hogtied using cable ties before Coulston shot them execution style in the back of the head with a sawn-off .22 rifle fitted with a home-made silencer made from an oil filter. On 1 September 1992, Coulston armed himself with the same weapon used to commit the earlier murders and some cable ties, then drove to St Kilda Road and parked his car near the National Gallery of Victoria. He"
"found guilty of capital murder and hanged at Wandsworth Prison on 25 May 1961, on the same gallows upon which Forsyth had been executed just over six months earlier. Francis Forsyth Francis Robert George Henry James 'Flossie’ Forsyth was a British criminal who became one of the youngest prisoners to be executed in a British prison in the 20th century. He was just 18 years old when he was hanged at Wandsworth Prison by Harry Allen (assisted by Royston Rickard) on 10 November 1960 for the murder of Allan Edward John Jee on 25 June 1960. One of his accomplices,"
"in December 1961, when he hanged Robert McGladdery at Crumlin Road Gaol in Belfast. He also performed the last hanging in Scotland, when Henry Burnett was hanged at Craiginches Prison in Aberdeen, on 15 August 1963 for the murder of Thomas Guyan, and hanged Russell Pascoe – one of the third-last prisoners to be hanged in a British prison – at Bristol's Horfield Prison on 17 December in the same year. He also performed one of the two final executions in the UK, when at 8.00 am on 13 August 1964 Gwynne Owen Evans was hanged at Strangeways Prison in"
"Anthony Miller (murderer) Anthony Joseph Miller (1941–22 December 1960) became the second-last criminal to be executed in Scotland when he was hanged on the gallows at Glasgow's Barlinnie Prison on 22 December 1960. Miller had been convicted of murdering John Cremin at Queen's Park Recreation Ground (near Hampden Park) in Glasgow on 6 April 1960. At 19 years of age, Miller was the last teenager to be executed in the United Kingdom. At the time of his arrest, Miller was an apprentice cabinet-maker who lived with his family in Crosshill, in the South Side of Glasgow. Miller's accomplice James Denovan"
"Francis Forsyth Francis Robert George Henry James 'Flossie’ Forsyth was a British criminal who became one of the youngest prisoners to be executed in a British prison in the 20th century. He was just 18 years old when he was hanged at Wandsworth Prison by Harry Allen (assisted by Royston Rickard) on 10 November 1960 for the murder of Allan Edward John Jee on 25 June 1960. One of his accomplices, 23-year-old Norman James 'Flash' Harris, was executed at Pentonville Prison on the same morning by Robert Leslie Stewart (assisted by H. F. Robinson). Forsyth, a road worker, and Harris,"
"documentaries about or including Pierrepoint, and he has been portrayed on stage and screen, and in literature. On Pierrepoint's resignation, two assistant executioners were promoted to lead executioner: Jock Stewart and Harry Allen. Over the next seven years they carried out the remaining thirty-four executions in the UK. On 13 August 1964 Allen hanged Gwynne Evans at Strangeways Prison in Manchester for the murder of John Alan West; at the same time, Stewart hanged Evans's accomplice, Peter Allen, at Walton Gaol in Liverpool. They were the last hangings in English legal history. The following year the Murder (Abolition of Death"
"of misdirection on the part of the judge at [Ruxton's] trial. Despite a petition from Lancaster residents urging clemency for Ruxton having collected over 10,000 signatures, Buck Ruxton was hanged at HM Prison Manchester on the morning of 12May 1936. His executioner was Albert Pierrepoint. Buck Ruxton Dr. Buck Ruxton (21 March 1899 – 12 May 1936) was an Indian-born British physician convicted and subsequently hanged for the September 1935 murders of his common-law wife, Isabella Ruxton (née Kerr), and the family housemaid, Mary Jane Rogerson, at his home in Lancaster, England. These murders are generically known as the Bodies"
"Crown Court and did not appeal against the decision. The hanging had been the first in Leeds since 1959. Sheffield Forum - Has there ever been a prison in Sheffield? - Page 3 Zsiga Pankotia Zsiga Pankotia (or Pankotai) was a 31-year-old Hungarian-born murderer who was hanged on Thursday, 29 June 1961 at Armley Gaol, Leeds, West Yorkshire, (now HM Prison Leeds). He was hanged by Harry Allen for the murder of Jack Eli Myers in a house burglary in the city's affluent Roundhay district. Under the Homicide Act 1957, murder during the course or furtherance of theft was considered"
"Buck Ruxton Dr. Buck Ruxton (21 March 1899 – 12 May 1936) was an Indian-born British physician convicted and subsequently hanged for the September 1935 murders of his common-law wife, Isabella Ruxton (née Kerr), and the family housemaid, Mary Jane Rogerson, at his home in Lancaster, England. These murders are generically known as the Bodies Under the Bridge and the Jigsaw Murders, while Ruxton himself became known as The Savage Surgeon. The case became known as the ""Bodies Under the Bridge"" due to the location, in the Southern Uplands of Scotland, where the bodies were found. The case was also"
"grounds that his confession was obtained by torture. England: David Chapman, who was sentenced to hang in November 1965 for the murder of a swimming pool nightwatchman in Scarborough. He was released from prison in 1979 and later died in a car accident. Scotland: Patrick McCarron in 1964 for shooting his wife. He committed suicide in prison in 1970. Wales: Edgar Black, who was reprieved on 6 November 1963. He had shot his wife's lover in Cardiff. The Criminal Damage Act 1971 abolished the offence of arson in royal dockyards. The Naval Discipline Act 1957 reduced the scope of capital"
"The last ever judicial execution in Scotland was that of Henry John Burnett, which took place in Aberdeen on 15 August 1963. Skelton, Douglas ""Glasgow's Black Heart: A City's Life of Crime"" MacKay, Donald ""Scotlands Hanged 1946 to 1963"" (2016) Anthony Miller (murderer) Anthony Joseph Miller (1941–22 December 1960) became the second-last criminal to be executed in Scotland when he was hanged on the gallows at Glasgow's Barlinnie Prison on 22 December 1960. Miller had been convicted of murdering John Cremin at Queen's Park Recreation Ground (near Hampden Park) in Glasgow on 6 April 1960. At 19 years of age,"
"Penalty) Act 1965 was passed, which imposed a five-year moratorium on executions. The temporary ban was made permanent on 18 December 1969. Albert Pierrepoint Albert Pierrepoint (; 30 March 1905 – 10 July 1992) was an English hangman who executed between 435 and 600 people in a 25-year career that ended in 1956. His father, Henry, and uncle Thomas were official hangmen before him. Pierrepoint was born in Clayton in the West Riding of Yorkshire. His family struggled financially because of his father's intermittent employment and heavy drinking. Pierrepoint knew from an early age that he wanted to become a"
"on 15 August 1963 in Craiginches Prison, Aberdeen, for the murder of seaman Thomas Guyan. Northern Ireland: Robert McGladdery, 26, on 20 December 1961 in Crumlin Road Gaol, Belfast, for the murder of Pearl Gamble. Wales: Vivian Teed, 24, in Swansea on 6 May 1958, for the murder of William Williams, sub-postmaster of Fforestfach Post Office. Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom: Liam Holden in 1973 in Northern Ireland, for the capital murder of a British soldier during the Troubles. Holden was removed from the death cell in May 1973. In 2012 his conviction was quashed on appeal on the"
"Martin would not in any way have relieved the Major's business problems. Armstrong made no confession and adamantly maintained his total innocence to the bitter end. On 13 April 1922 at Hereford Shire Hall, he was found guilty of the murder of his wife. Mr Justice Darling stated that he concurred with the jury's view and that it was absurd and unsupported by any evidence that Mrs Armstrong had committed suicide. He then sentenced Armstrong to death. On 16 May 1922, the Court of Criminal Appeal dismissed his appeal and Armstrong was hanged by John Ellis at Gloucester Prison on"
"October 1961. The evening before his execution he allegedly made a full confession to the murder. He was hanged, aged 26, at Crumlin Road Gaol in Belfast on 20 December 1961, by executioner Harry Allen. A BBC Northern Ireland dramatisation of the case, ""Last Man Hanging"", was broadcast on 8 September 2008. McGladdery was portrayed by Michael Condron. The murder and subsequent execution is the theme of Eoin McNamee's 2010 novel, ""Orchid Blue"". Robert McGladdery Robert Andrew McGladdery (18 October 193520 December 1961) was the last person to be executed in Northern Ireland and the island of Ireland. He was"
"James Smith (murderer) James Smith (1936 – 28 November 1962) was the sixth-to-last criminal to be executed in a British prison. He was hanged for the murder of Mrs. Sarah Isabella Cross in her sweetshop at the corner of Hulme Hall Lane and Iron Street, Miles Platting, Manchester. Smith, born in Edinburgh in 1936, had entered the shop on Friday 4th May 1962 and battered 58-year-old Mrs Cross to death in order to rob her of around £6 from the till. A total of 5 glass screw-top orangeade and cherryade bottles (made by Wild Bros of Heywood) were used to"
"James Smith (murderer) James Smith (1936 – 28 November 1962) was the sixth-to-last criminal to be executed in a British prison. He was hanged for the murder of Mrs. Sarah Isabella Cross in her sweetshop at the corner of Hulme Hall Lane and Iron Street, Miles Platting, Manchester. Smith, born in Edinburgh in 1936, had entered the shop on Friday 4th May 1962 and battered 58-year-old Mrs Cross to death in order to rob her of around £6 from the till. A total of 5 glass screw-top orangeade and cherryade bottles (made by Wild Bros of Heywood) were used to"
"In return, his wife Margaret, known to radio listeners as ""Lady Haw-Haw"", was spared prosecution for high treason. Of the 32 British renegades and broadcasters caught in Germany at the end of the war, only Margaret Joyce, who died in London in 1972, was not charged with treason. Joyce went to his death unrepentant: Other sources refer to his having said, ""may the Swastika be raised from the dust"". Joyce was executed on 3 January 1946 at Wandsworth Prison, aged 39. He was the next to last person to be hanged for a crime other than murder in the United"
"intentions that Capital Punishment was supposed to deter. His mother and father both appeared in the witness box and his mother broke down in the court. After he was sentenced to death, both his own family and that of the victim petitioned for his reprieve. There was, however, no appeal from Burnett, and at 8.00 am on Thursday, 15 August 1963, the 21-year-old was executed on Britain's newest gallows (built in 1962 to Home Office-approved specifications) as a crowd of 200 people gathered outside the prison. Executioner Harry Allen and his assistant Samuel Plant performed the hanging. Shortly afterwards, Burnett's"
"Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office (1960–62), Second Secretary at HM Treasury (1963–66), and Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office (1966–72). As deputy chairman of the Prison Commission for England and Wales from 1950–52, he advised against a reprieve for Timothy Evans, hanged in 1950 for the murder of his baby daughter at 10 Rillington Place, London. He also thought that Evans was guilty of the murder of his wife, for which Evans had not been prosecuted. Evans was pardoned in 1966 and Evans' neighbour, John Christie, was held responsible for strangling his own wife and five"
"in which the British Ambassador to Ireland, Christopher Ewart-Biggs, was killed in 1976. The car in which the party was travelling was blown up by a bomb concealed in a culvert under the road. Cubbon's Private Secretary, Judith Cooke, was also killed, and the driver, Brian O'Driscoll, was injured. He died of a heart attack on 20 May 2015 at the age of 87. Brian Cubbon Sir Brian Crossland Cubbon GCB (9 April 1928 – 20 May 2015) was a British senior civil servant and a member of the Charter Compliance Panel of the Press Complaints Commission. Cubbon was educated"
"term of life imprisonment. He is currently incarcerated at HMP Full Sutton maximum security prison in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Grieveson became known as the ""Sunderland Strangler"" due to the city in which he committed his murders, and his preferred murder method of ligature strangulation. On 26 November 1993 Grieveson murdered 18-year-old Thomas Kelly in an abandoned allotment shed in Fulwell, Sunderland. His body was set alight. On 4 February 1994 he murdered 15-year-old David Hanson in Roker Terrace, before finally murdering 15-year-old David Grieff on 25 February 1994 in an abandoned Fulwell allotment just 50 yards from"
"were recommended to mercy and were reprieved from the gallows. 32 men - 29 in England and Wales and three in Scotland - were hanged. The death penalty for murder was suspended for five years in 1965, and permanently abolished in 1969 (although it still remained for treason until 1998). The penalty today is life imprisonment under the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965. Homicide Act 1957 The Homicide Act 1957 (5 & 6 Eliz.2 c.11) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was enacted as a partial reform of the common law offence of"